Peace of Mind
by Potterholic85
Summary: Relationships take time to develop...but what if there is no time? A story to be told in three parts about the events that bring those who love each other closer together. HG, RH. Written pre-Deathly Hallows.
1. The Wedding

"Mr. Weasley, you may now kiss your bride," the minister said, smiling gently to the two people standing in front of him.

Bill's grin, which he held through the entire ceremony, widened at the old wizard's words. He gathered Fleur up into his arms and kissed her soundly upon the mouth. The guests in the garden cheered as the kiss ended--Bill still smiling and Fleur with a blush across her cheeks, staring adoringly at her new husband.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the minister shouted above the cheers of the guests. "I present you with Mr. and Mrs. William Weasley!" Cheers once again echoed around the garden as Bill and Fleur blushed with happiness. The old minister raised his hands for quiet and announced, "I will ask you to join the newlyweds in the tent, located on the far field, for good food and fun!"

Harry stood up with the rest of the guests, including Hermione, who sat beside him, and began to shuffle over to the walkway. The ceremony had been nice, with Bill in dress robes of black and Fleur in a beautiful white wedding gown. Harry looked up at the alter to find Ron still standing there, dressed, as the other groomsmen were, in robes of white. He then glanced over at the bridesmaids, who were wearing long black dresses. As Ginny was Bill's only sister, she was reluctantly talked in to being part of the ceremony. She fought with her mother and Fleur, saying that she would look utterly ridiculous in black with her pale skin, but Harry could have told her she had nothing to worry about. She looked absolutely stunning.

Harry remembered, as he gazed at Ginny, the time he had with her at the end of last term. Although it was brief, it was the happiest Harry had ever been. He could still remember the incredible conversations they had about anything and everything, how it felt to have his arms wrapped around her, her hands in his hair, their lips moving together…

Harry closed his eyes, trying to erase the memories from his head. He wouldn't allow himself to think about that. They weren't together anymore, by Harry's doing, and he had to stick with his decision.

He realized that while musing, he lost Hermione in the crowd. He looked around for his other best friend, but he too seemed to have disappeared. He shook his head, thinking nothing of it. Ron and Hermione helped set up for the wedding after they arrived from the Dursley's. They were probably just reporting to Mrs. Weasley to see what needed to be done.

The white reception tent was set up on the field he and the Weasley's played quidditch on during the summer. Inside was a large dance floor, surrounded by many small tables that were quickly filling up with people ready to eat. Harry looked for a table at which to sit, but the pickings were slim. He saw three seats available. One was at a table that sat many of the Weasley's older family. Harry could see a woman he was introduced to earlier as Great-Aunt Muriel waving almost frantically for him to come over. Harry politely waved back, then quickly began to walk in the opposite direction. The next seat available was next to The Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Harry rolled his eyes when he saw Scrimgeour try to grab his attention. He had groaned when he discovered the Minister was invited. He was informed that Scrimgeour came because Scrimgeour wanted to be present at the wedding of the brother of one of the most promising Ministry employees, but most of the Weasley's and he were sure that the fact Harry was attending helped him develop that excuse. He walked by the table without even acknowledging the Minister and moved to the last seat. Unfortunately, the situation at this table wasn't much better. The last empty chair was next to Ginny, the one person he'd been trying to avoid the most since he came to the Burrow last week. She sat there with Luna Lovegood and her brothers, Fred and George.

"Harry!" Fred exclaimed. He stood up and shook Harry's hand quite jovially. "Have a seat! Luna was just telling us an amusing story about--"

"It isn't a story," Luna interrupted, a bit perturbed. "My father and I did find the Bulgarian Baclaskin this summer. It nearly killed him!" She stared at Fred and George as they snickered. She then turned to Harry, her gaze returning to its dreamy state. "Hello, Harry. Lovely ceremony, wasn't it?"

"Erm…" He was broken from his daze, not realizing he had been sneaking looks at Ginny. "Um, yes. It was quite lovely." He then asked, "Luna, what are you doing here? I didn't know you knew Bill."

Luna nodded vigorously and said, "Oh yes. I've known the Weasley's almost my whole life. I grew up in the same village, you know." She sighed contently and glanced up at Bill, who had just walked in with Fleur. "William is fantastic, isn't he?"

Harry, confused by Luna's obvious admiration of Bill, said, "Well, he is a good guy--"

"I think I'll marry him someday," she blurted, nodding her head at her decision.

Harry stared at Luna. She rarely made any sort of sense to him, but this conversation took the cake. "But…Luna, he just got married."

"Oh, I'm not worried about that," she said dismissively, still staring lovingly at the new groom. Harry mouth hanged agape at that comment, but quickly closed when he heard the three Weasley's snort with laughter. He looked over at Ginny to see her shaking with suppressed giggles, and found himself laughing as well. She looked up at him then, her eyes meeting his. His mirth faded when he found himself sinking into her eyes and staring at her lips as she smiled softly at him. His mind once again retreated to their time together, and their hours by the lake…

Harry shook his head, once again trying to get rid of those happy memories. He ignored Ginny's look of confusion and stood up. "I'm…um, I'm going to go…find Ron and Hermione," he slurred, walking quickly away from the table. He heard the twins holler after him, but didn't dare turn around. He refused to let his resolve break about Ginny, which surely would have happened if he had sat there for another moment.

He had his reasons for wanting to be away from her, but not the reasons everyone thought. Of course, he wanted to protect her, but that wasn't what formed his decision. He did it because he wasn't certain of his future. He didn't know if he was even going to come back from his mission to destroy Voldemort. He wasn't stupid; he knew that if he died, Ginny would be sad, but he didn't want her to grieve over him the same that Cho mourned over Cedric. He would rather her give up on him, much like she had done before, than to cause her even more pain with his death.

After looking at the alter, near the pond, and around the house, he walked into the deserted Burrow, still seeking out Ron and Hermione. He was so lost in his thoughts that, when he opened the door to the sitting room, he at first didn't realize his two best friends were standing in the middle of it, completely consumed in each other. He did a double take, standing in shock for a few seconds, before slowly backing out of the room. He left a crack in the door as he was quietly closed, allowing him to still see them.

Ron's hands were running up and down Hermione's back, as her hands ran through his hair. Their mouths were touching over and over again, each time the kisses becoming deeper. Harry suspected that the whole of the Weasley family, Great-Aunt Muriel and all, could have stampeded into the room and it wouldn't have broken their embrace.

Their kisses stopped after some time and they stepped away from each other, though not completely. Ron's hands rested on Hermione's hips, her hands dangly around his neck. They lay their foreheads against one another and took several deep breaths. Harry, confused and shocked by the whole display, was about to barge in to interrogate, but Hermione spoke first.

"Ron," she said softly. Mistakenly, Ron took this as his sign to start another snog, but Hermione put a hand against his chest. "No, Ron," she sighed heavily, "we can't."

Ron leaned back and stared at her incredulously. "What? But we were just--"

"I know," she interrupted, "but…" She sighed again and hung her head. "Ron, Harry needs us."

"I know that," he said mystified, "that's why we're going to go hunt for the horcruxes with him." He stepped up closer to her and cupped a hand to her cheek. "But that doesn't mean that we can't…" He bent down to kiss her again, and she almost allowed it, but turned her face away, causing him to kiss her cheek.

"Yes, it does mean that we can't," she said tenderly. She looked into his bewildered eyes and explained. "He's going to need us to be there for him. And I don't just mean in the vicinity to cover his back, but this is really going to hurt him, mentally and emotionally." She sniffed back her tears and continued. "If we're…doing this while we're away with him, he's not going to want to come to us. He's going to try to do everything on his own, to keep everything inside, because he'll think he's being a burden." She sighed and rested her head on his chest, not letting Ron see the tears that had just fallen. "We can't do that to him, Ron."

Ron stood there, looking down at the girl he had just been kissing, a hurt expression on his face. It looked to Harry as though he was going to walk away, but instead he wrapped his long arms around her and brought her close, kissing the top of her head. "I understand," he murmured.

Hermione looked up at him, admiration, as well as tears, shining in her eyes. She stood on her tippy toes and gave him a soft kiss. "Thank you," she whispered against his lips. She lowered herself and with a last glance at him, began to walk away. Before she could get very far, though, Ron stepped up to her and gently grabbed her arm.

"When all this is over," he began, his voice cracking with emotion. He cleared his throat and began again, "When all this is over, when that bastard is dead, when Harry kills him…" There was no need for him to continue. Hermione slid her hand down his arm and clutched his hand, nodding at the unfinished statement. She then walked up the stairs and into Ginny's room, closing the door softly behind her.

Ron stood still, staring at the spot where Hermione was. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. Harry knew he was trying to calm himself down. Being told he wasn't allowed to be with the girl he'd liked since fourth year (or so Ron tells him, although Harry suspects it might have been longer) because they had to help their best friend would likely make him angry as well.

He left Ron to his stewing and walked back to the garden. He sat down on a bench, placing his head in his hands, thinking about the two people he just left. Harry knew there had been something going on between them—after all, they bickered too much for there not to be. But he didn't know that things had escalated and they were now together. Well, were together. Now they had to stop because Harry needed them. It angered him to think that they would put their personal lives aside for him. Everybody was giving up too much for him already, and now his best friends—

"Harry?"

He looked up to see Ginny standing there in her black gown, looking quite concerned…and more beautiful than he'd ever seen her in that moonlight. He cringed at that thought and put his head back in his hands.

"Harry?" she asked again. She sat next to him on the bench and placed a hand on his back. "Harry, what's--"

He jumped from the bench as soon as he felt the contact, ignoring the jolt of lightning that seemed to touch his ever nerve ending by the one simple touch. "Don't," he hissed through his teeth.

Ginny stared up at him, confused shock written on her face, before standing up and stepping in front of him. "Why not?" she challenged. "Hm, Harry? Are you afraid you're going to like me again?"

"Ginny," he said, squirming under her gaze.

"Ever since you came here you've avoided me like I was some deadly disease," she admonished, fire sparking in her eyes. Harry wanted nothing more than to smolder that fire with his lips on hers…_No!_ "Why are you so adamant about not letting yourself be with me?" She asked, poking him in the chest with every word. "Why won't you let me--"

Harry grabbed her hand that had been jabbing him in his and held on. To feel her hand in his again was pure bliss for him, but he couldn't let himself enjoy. Instead, he screwed up his face and told the biggest lie that had ever been told: "Because I don't want to be with you."

Ginny looked from her hand, which was still being held in his, then to his eyes, which seemed to be willing her to believe him. "Bull." She stepped closer to him and tried to worm her unoccupied hand around his neck, but he quickly stepped away.

"It isn't," he whispered cruelly. He glared at her and said, "I don't like you anymore, Ginny. And the way you've been throwing yourself at me all week--"

Ginny gasped in indignation. "_Throwing_ myself--"

"—has got to end! I don't want to be with you, so just leave me alone!" he finished loudly, walking into the Burrow and slamming the door behind him. He marched right up to the very top room, where Ron was sitting on his bed gazing at the floor, and flung himself on his cot, face first.

_What have I done?_


	2. Frantic

Author's Note: I'm not from England. So if it sounds like I don't know what I'm talking about in this chapter, I probably don't. Enjoy!

Harry lay in the tiny shack on the edge of some woods, listening to Ron and Hermione breathe. He knew neither of them were asleep, but none of them were talking, the events of that day still looming darkly in their minds.

They were investigating Lewes, a town outside of London that day, searching old antique shops for what they knew to be Rowena Ravenclaw's golden abacus. They'd heard from a reliable source (if you want to call a certain pipe-smoking drunkard a reliable source) that there were rumors of this rare object in an antique store somewhere around the London area. After looking around Cambridge, Hertford, and Canterbury, they found themselves in the town of never ending old-tyme shops.

"Here's an idea," Ron grumbled, after looking through their sixth shop of the day. "How about we wait until tonight when everyone's safely in their warm beds, then blow up every bloody shop in this town." He pulled the hood of his sweatshirt off of his head to wipe the sweat off of his neck. "We're bound to destroy the stupid thing then."

"Ron!" Hermione scolded. She reached up and pulled the hood back on his head. "Stay in disguise!"

It was Hermione's idea that they stay disguised on their travels. They wore clothes that would cover their identity, such as hooded sweatshirts and hats in the muggle towns, and dark cloaks with hoods to cover their faces in wizarding communities. Arguments about this were numerable between Ron and Hermione, but as Hermione said, "It's better we stay uncomfortable in heavy clothes than be recognized and dead."

"We can't do that, anyhow, Ron," Hermione huffed, walking to the next antique shop that was conveniently down the road. "If we start blowing things up just to be rid of them, we'll be no better than the Death Eaters."

"Oh, calm down, Hermione," Ron argued. "It's not like I was serious."

"Well you should watch what you're saying, anyone can take you—"

"Well you should watch what you're saying," Ron mimicked in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh yes, very mature, I'm glad to see that you're showing your age once again."

"Well if I'm going to be treated like a child—"

"You aren't—"

Harry walked away from yet another bickering match between his two best friends. A lot has changed since they've been hunting the horcruxes. Hermione had acquired a new scar when they destroyed the locket from Grimmauld Place. Ron still limped from the attic he fell through in an old country shack when they thought they were on the trail of Hufflepuff's cup. All of them had stopped smiling somewhere along the way, finding nothing of amusement or enjoyment. However, the bickering was a constant in their lives. No matter the dark situation or the mortal peril they may be in, it was a guarantee that the fights between Ron and Hermione would be there. Not that it hurt their friendship at all. In ways, it helped remind them of the life they used to live and what they were fighting for--a life without Death Eaters, horcruxes, and Voldemort.

Harry walked into the next shop, tiny bells chiming as he opened the door. His eyes widened in a shock when he say the state of the store. The building was chucked-full of old things—lamps, chairs, tables, books, figurines, bookshelves…there wasn't a bare space in site. He sighed, thinking of how long it was going to take to shuffle through all of these items, but began nonetheless. After all, he had always found ways of entertaining himself while search through large piles of antiques. It was the only time he allowed himself to reminisce about what truly made him happy—a fiery red-head that was currently at Hogwarts…

Halfway through his search of the store he found himself in front of a large wardrobe. He opened it up and began picking through all the items in it when he came to a sudden halt. He froze, believing that his eyes were betraying him. He closed his eyes and shook his head just to be sure his wanting imagination wasn't making this up. But when he looked again, it was still there. At last, they had found—

"You haven't grown up since you were twelve years old, Ron! I wouldn't expect anything more—"

"What are you on about? I've grown at least a foot or so since—"

Harry heard his best friends coming towards them, but was too afraid to look up in case it would disappear…

"My apologies, let me use words your little brain will be able to handle. You're still a moron!"

"Oy! I am not! I happen to be quite smart! I scraped in a good number of OWLs!"

"Oh yes, you're 'quite smart.' You should tell me how 'quite smart' you are sometime. When I can possibly degrade myself to go down to your level!"

"Degrade? You would have you—OOF!"

Harry stuck out his arm to stop his best friends from walking, accidentally striking Ron in the stomach.

"You could have just asked me to stop talking, mate," Ron gasped, holding his hands over his stomach. "I would have—"

But before he could continue, Hermione gasped as well. Tearing his eyes away from what he was staring at, he looked at Hermione, who realized what they had just found.

They were both looking at an ancient abacus, golden in shade, with an eagle frozen to the base, sculpted to look as though it were in flight. On the top of the frame on each side was an "R." The beads, though now pale white from age, looked as though they had once had a blue tint to them.

"Oh my," Hermione whispered. "I can't believe it." She gave a tiny laugh of amazement. "We've never had such an easy time finding one."

Harry, picked up the abacus and opened his mouth to agree, until he heard Ron moan, "Oh no…"

Ron was staring at the doorway, where several tall, dark-hooded figures walked into the shop. They looked around the store, trying to find the trio, not yet realizing that the three people towards the back of the building were they.

"Backdoor," Hermione barely whispered, crouching as low as she could while still moving along quickly. Harry tucked the abacus close to his body and both boys followed Hermione. They made their way through the stuffed area towards a storage room door, quietly slipped in, and closed the door behind them. They rose from their crouch and ran to the back of the dark storage room to another door that led outside.

Once they reached the fresh air of the outdoors, Hermione took the abacus from Harry and put it into the backpack she had began carrying during their travels. Before she could zip it up, however, footsteps came from around the corner and there, standing like a wall in front of them, were twenty-five Death Eaters.

Hermione wasted no time. She was at Harry's side in a flash and whispered, barely moving her lips, "Keep them distracted. I'll warm the Galleon."

It had been Ron's clever idea to give his and Hermione's charmed Galleons from fifth year to Moody and Tonks, so that if they were in trouble, the two Aurors would know. Ron astounded Hermione even more by asking her if there was a charm that could send Moody and Tonks instantly to where they were. Hermione quickly found a way to tweak the _Portus_ charm, so instead of taking the Aurors to a predestined location, they would be transported to the trio's exact location in a time of need. And there was certainly no greater time of need than right now.

"So," Harry began, trying to distract the Death Eaters and keep their attention away from Hermione. "You found us."

The Death Eaters said nothing, instead watching the three friends in quiet intensity. It was quite unnerving, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione kept on brave faces, not letting them know their intimidation tactics were succeeding very well.

"You should tell your boss to be more careful with his souls," Ron mocked. "Ending up in a junk shop? Tsk, tsk. It's like he wants to die or something."

"Give us the horcrux," a Death Eater hissed through his mask, holding out his hand.

Harry laughed and crossed his arms defiantly. "He actually let all of you know about the horcruxes? Wow. You must be the elite."

"The best of the worst," Ron laughed, a devilish smirk playing across his face. "Congratulations. Although, I'm not sure if that makes you worse than the dirt on my shoes, or worse than the scum below the dirt…"

"Oh, definitely worse than scum, that's for certain," Hermione chimed in.

"Give us the horcrux," another Death Eater said slowly, as though he were talking to unintelligent children.

Harry leaned forward. "No," he drew out, shaking his head slowly.

Before they could blind, twenty-five wands were drawn and pointing at their faces.

"Stupefy!" yelled a voice in the crowd. Harry closed his eyes, ready to be hit, but instead heard a thud in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw a Death Eater lying face down in the dirt.

Behind the dark robes were five figures: Tonks and Moody, along with Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin, and oddly enough, Percy Weasley. The two opposing groups looked at each other for a moment…. then all bedlam broke loose.

Harry fought the Death Eaters, his back against Ron and Hermione's. They ducked stunning spells, broke away from Killing Curses, and narrowly avoided potentially deadly jinxes. The bag with the Rowena Ravenclaw's horcrux in it was quickly forgotten in all of the confusion, but remembered once a particularly large stray Death Eater began running towards it. Harry cast a Trip Jinx on the Death Eater, making him fall heavily on the backpack. They heard a loud 'crack' as the follower fell. What happened next was something that the trio had seen once before, yet didn't make it any less shocking.

Between the seams of the backpack, a black mist rose. It ascended slowly and silently, but was enough to make everyone in the confusing fight stop and look at its presence. There was something dark about the simple mist, something sinister enough to make even the most ruthless Death Eater shudder.

Hermione, once again on top of things, wasted no time in pointing her wand to the mist and shouting, "AMINO EVANESCO!"

The affect was immediate. The black mist drew out, growing thinner and thinner, until it simply vanished. On their travels, they found that destroying the souls within the horcruxes was simple enough with the right spell, yet another concoction of Hermione's.

The large group was more shocked than ever when the soul disappeared, not quite sure what had just happened. The Death Eaters, however, knew that whatever it was couldn't have been good, and started Disapparating. The Aurors threw a few more stunning spells in hopes of capturing some of them, but instead found themselves facing only the trio when the popping noises ceased.

Harry looked around to survey the damage. Lupin was on the ground, breathing heavily. Tonks immediately went to his side, touching different parts of his body to make sure he was all right.

"I'm fine," he wheezed. "Just got a little winded."

"_You_ don't get winded, old man," Tonks replied gently. "Come on, let's get you to—"

"Tonks!" Kingsley shouted urgently. Everyone looked over to see him kneeling over a prone figure, his horn-rimmed glasses lying beside him…

"Percy!" Ron shouted, running over to them. He dropped to his knees and starting gently slapping Percy's face. "Perce, come on! Wake up! They're gone, you can get up now!" He took a hold of Percy's shoulders and began to shake him. "Wake up, Percy! Come on! You have to get up! Mum wants to see you! You have to wake up so she can see you again!"

"Ron," Kingsley said quietly. He took a hold of Ron and lifted him away from Percy's lifeless form.

"No!" Ron shouted, struggling against Kingsley. "No! He has to wake up! Wake up, you stupid git! Get up!"

Harry couldn't look. He heard Hermione beside him, muffling her sobs with her hand. Ron continued to struggle against Kingsley, who had a firm hold on Ron. He kept shouting at Percy, telling him to wake up and stop acting, until his voice was horse. The reason Percy wasn't opening his eyes then hit him at full force. His brother was dead. He fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands.

Hermione walked silently over to Ron, lowered herself, and placed her arms around his shoulders. He gave a stuttering breath before he leaned into her, hiding his face in her shoulder. Harry walked towards the three Aurors and Lupin as she began rubbing his back and whispering in his ear.

"What was he doing here?" Harry asked quietly.

Moody answered gruffly, "We, that is, Tonks, Remus, Kingsley and I, were at Hogwarts discussing some Order business with McGonagall. Then young Weasley barged into the office, hollering something about the school and how the Ministry wasn't happy for some garbage reason or other."

Remus continued. "As Minerva was trying to usher him out of the office, Tonks and Moody felt their Galleons warm up. They informed Kingsley and myself of what was happening and we began to leave. Percy caught up with us out on the grounds and said that he wasn't going to let his little brother get hurt on this 'ridiculous mission'…" He stopped to put an arm around a sniffling Tonks.

Harry lowered his head, silently seething with hatred for Voldemort and his Death Eaters. His resolve to destroy that murderous bastard was quickly renewed. He knew he wasn't going to stop fighting until he killed Voldemort, or died trying. But first…

"Mr. and Mrs. Weasley…" Harry moaned, dreading the thought of telling them the news.

"We'll take care of that, Harry," Lupin said kindly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But Ron…"

"Right," Harry nodded. "He should go." He walked over to where Ron was still in Hermione's arms. She looked up at him, her own tears sliding from her eyes. He knelt down and placed a tentative hand on Ron's shoulder. "Ron…"

"I'm not leaving," he said quietly, his face still against Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione leaned back a little so she could see his face. "Ron—"

"I'm not leaving," he voiced, loudly this time. He stood up, ran a hand over his face to rid himself of the tears, and said, "I told you I would help you get rid of him, Harry. I'm not backing down now."

Harry stood as well. He took a step towards his friend and said, "Ron, your parents—"

"Can deal without me." He turned around and began to walk down the street, heading towards the inconspicuous shack they had been staying in. Harry and Hermione looked at each other, neither knowing what to say to get their friend to go mourn with his family.

Harry sighed and turned towards the Aurors and Lupin. "Thank you for your help. We would have been…" he gulped and looked down at his shoes, not wanting to continue his sentence in light of what just happened. "We'll try to get Ron to go home. Tell the Weasley's that…." His thought immediately turned to Ginny. He could only imagine how she'd react. He wanted to be there for her, to comfort her in a time of need…

He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder again. He looked up to see Remus looking kindly down at him. "We'll take care of everything, Harry. Don't worry." Harry nodded once, then felt arms wrap tightly around him.

"Be careful, Harry," Tonks whispered, sniffing into his shoulder. He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her back and assured her he'd be as careful as possible.

Moody and Kingsley walked over to Percy's body, Kingsley gently taking a hold of one of Percy's wrists. Moody pointed his wand at the Galleon in his hand and mumbled, "_Portus_." He held it out to Kingsley, who put a finger on it, and they disappeared.

Remus and Tonks said goodbye to Harry and Hermione one last time, and repeated what Moody and Kingsley just did. They silently followed Ron up to the shack, where they now found themselves.

Harry sighed and turned over on his side, looking at his two best friends. Ron lay facing the wall. He had been like that when Harry and Hermione came into the shack. They thought it best to leave him be for now, and lay down to rest as well. Hermione was against the wall adjacent to Ron, unabashedly staring at Ron. She had been like that for the past hour, as though she were willing him to talk to her.

Harry sighed again, about to turn against the wall and reflect on future horcrux hunting, when he saw Ron sit up very quickly. He looked straight ahead, his eyes wide. Hermione sat up as well, concern written on her face.

"Ron—"

"I love you."

He was looking right at Hermione, whose mouth fell open and eyes widened at his statement.

"You…what?"

He scooted over to her on his knees and cupped her astonished face in his hands. He continued frantically, "I…I love you. And…I want to tell you now, because I know we were supposed to wait…"

Breaking from her daze, she put her hand up to his mouth and signaled with her head towards Harry, "Ron…"

"I don't care," he said, taking her hand away from his mouth and holding it in his, "I mean," he said, looking at Harry apologetically, "I'm sorry, mate, but—"

"No, it's fine," Harry grinned.

"But I'm not going to pretend that we're just friends anymore." He let go of her hand and put both of his on her waist. "My brother…he…" He put his forehead against Hermione's and took a deep breath. "I don't know what's going to happen to us, there's no way of knowing. Anything can happen to any of us at anytime and that means we have no time, not right now." He was once again frantic. "I need you to know now that I love you. I couldn't bare it to think that if I…that you would never know that I loved you. Because I do love you. I love you." He continued to whisper the three words, wanting Hermione to know he truly meant it.

Hermione stared at Ron, tears shining in her eyes. She knew he was right. She looked at Harry while Ron continued to whisper, trying to relay with her eyes that this didn't change what he meant to them—that he could still come to them about anything, and they would still always be there for him. Harry smiled his first genuine smile in months, and nodded. He understood.

She turned back to Ron, his eyes closed, although he was still whispering. She put a finger over his lips to still them, and he looked up. "I love you, too," she whispered, then replaced her finger with her lips. It was a chaste kiss, but one that didn't hide anything they were feeling for each other. He wrapped his arms completely around her waist, and her arms reached behind his back to hold him. Together, they laid down, wrapped in each other, not wanting to let go.

Harry lay down once again and faced the wall to give his best friends some semblance of privacy.

_I can't lose,_ he thought. _I have to win this fight against Voldemort. Ron and Hermione deserve to have a happy future together, and it won't happen until he's dead. _He thought of Percy dying to protect his brother. He thought of Hermione and the time she's losing learning everything she can to get her a top-notch job at the Ministry. _They've both given up so much for me. I have to kill Voldemort for them. It's the least I can do. _And with that thought, he drifted off to sleep.


	3. Peace of Mind

The battle had escalated to its climax. On a hill in front of the lake at Hogwarts stood Harry, body riddled with many impairing curses from his long battle with Death Eaters. In front of him, some twenty feet away, stood his greatest nemesis, Lord Voldemort, who was laughing as Harry fought to stay conscious. Ron and Hermione stood behind him, fighting any stray curses that may be aimed towards Harry.

Harry's scar was also ailing him, causing him to struggle with wakefulness. Voldemort was feeling particularly happy about the outcome of the battle between his Death Eaters and the Aurors, Order, and older students of Hogwarts thus far. Many people have fallen for the side of light in this battle, and if things didn't end soon, Harry wasn't sure the right side would be winning this war.

_In the haze of pain and confusion, he thought of the journey that they had been through. They had all lost so much. Ron had lost a brother, Hermione had lost her parents. Harry had lost a happy childhood, a loving home, and a happy life because of the bastard in front of him. It was time to end it… hopefully his resolve wouldn't fail him…_

"_Harry Potter," Voldemort seethed. "Just as the prophecy foretold. You and I face each other in the final battle to see how the wizarding world will be ruled from here on out." He sneered at Harry and chuckled softly. "It does seem very poetic in a way, doesn't it?" _

"_Voldemort…" Harry panted, "just…give up…you're not going….to…to win…" Harry shook his head, trying to dispel the darkness clouding his vision. The extra effort, however, caused him to grow very faint, and he sank down to a knee. _

_Voldemort shrieked a high pitch laugh as he watched Harry try to stay awake. Hermione, concerned that the wizarding world's worst enemy was laughing at a time like this, looked over her shoulder to see Harry kneeling on the ground. _

"_Harry?" she asked, breaking her concentration from the battle for only seconds. But it was long enough to miss guarding herself from a Death Eaters curse aimed directly at her. Blue light shone over her as she grimaced in pain and fell to the ground, eyes closed. _

"_HERMIONE!" Ron screamed, running to her and quickly putting a shield charm around them both. He gently laid her head in his lap, brushing the hair away from her forehead, and whispered desperately to her words that Harry couldn't hear. _

_Harry stared at his best friends' for a moment before the well-known feeling of anger welled up in him once again, fueling him with a great need. He turned back to Voldemort, stood, and raised his wand, ready to fight the final battle. That is, until he heard another voice behind him that made his eyes grow wide and his heart stop. _

"_Hermione! Ron, is she—"_

_Ginny. Ginny had seen her friend fall while battling at the bottom of the hill and ran to see if she was okay. _

_Harry quickly tried to regain his composure so Voldemort wouldn't see how Ginny's presence had affected him, but his blood ran cold as he saw the Dark Lord sneer in glee. _

"_Ah, young Miss Weasley. I believe I remember hearing that you two were quite the pair," he laughed maliciously. "So sad it had to end, I'm sure." _

"_She doesn't matter," Harry said softly, keeping the considerable ire at bay. He had to get the attention off of Ginny. He had to get her out of danger. But before he could think of any sort of plan to do such a thing, he watched Voldemort dawn a malevolent smile upon his face and raise his wand. It wasn't towards him, though. It was aimed right at Ginny. _

"_Then I suppose you won't mind if I just--"  
_

_Before he had time to think, before Voldemort could get any more words out of his cruel mouth, Harry focused all of his energy, all his strength, and screamed, "INTERFICIO AMINO!" _

_The crowd below the hill grew silent when they heard Harry scream. Voldemort stopped dead in his tracks as the spell hit him. It seemed as though he were frozen, not a muscle in his body moving. Harry heard nothing but the panting of his breath and the mantra inside his head: 'Please let it work, please let it work…'_

_Finally, Voldemort moved. He exhaled a small puff of breath before inhaling and screaming into the sky. Harry's hands flew up to his scar, an abominable throbbing tearing through his head. He fell to his knees, wanting to shut out the light and sound of the world, but kept his eyes squinted open to watch Voldemort. Voldemort, too, had fallen to his knees, his hands atop his head as he continued to scream. From beneath his robes, a black mist began to rise. Harry was used to this by now, seeing the same thing happen with the horcruxes. But what he wasn't used to seeing was so much of the black mist. Enough of Voldemort's soul had risen from inside his body to shroud him entirely. His darkened spirit began to swirl around him quickly, Voldemort's screams of pain turning into screams of panic. The screaming grew louder and the swirling soul went faster, until suddenly the soul dissipated into thin air, and Voldemort was left lying on the ground, eyes wide open, staring into nothingness. _

_It was over. The battle for the safety of the wizarding world was over. Harry had done his part—he'd killed the biggest threat. Finally, it was over…_

_Harry turned around to look at the one person he'd wanted to be with for the past year. The simplest effort of turning, however, suddenly made him realize the tribulations his body had gone through and the complete lack of any sort of energy. The last thing he saw before the world turned black was Ginny's worried face. _

Harry woke with a start, feeling the sweat drip down his forehead. He quickly glanced around him, looking for anything familiar: the soulless body of Voldemort, Ron hovering over Hermione, Ginny's face showing apprehension…but he found none. Instead, he found himself in a room with white sheets and curtains…_Hospital wing, right._

He took a deep breath to calm his rapid heart and lay back once again in his crisp bed. He couldn't believe that he had actually done it. He'd finally beaten the bane of his existence. So much of his life had been dedicated to destroying this one person. He'd lost so much because of the Dark Lord. But now he could ponder of something he had never let himself think of before now: his future.

He smiled at this simple thought._ The future._ No longer did his thoughts on this topic start with what-ifs or sudden what-now's. He had the rest of his life ahead of him, and with his friends still alive and the money in his Gringott's vault now coming forefront to his mind, he could have whatever he wanted.

A small _creak_ sounded from Harry's left, breaking him from his musings. He looked around to see a beautiful, young redheaded woman walking through his door slowly, trying to make little noise as not to disturb him.

_Well_, he thought idly, _I suppose I can't have everything I want._

Ginny noticed that he had seen her, and opened the door further to walk in, head held high in what looked to be distain. The silence hurt made Harry feel very awkward in the moment that neither of them spoke, but simply looked—or in Ginny's case, glared—at each other.

When Harry felt that if he could not stand one more moment of silence, he started to speak. "Gin—"

"I came to see if Ron and Hermione were okay," she explained quickly. "They told me you hadn't waken yet."

"Thank you for—"

"I just wanted to see if the hero of the whole bloody wizarding world was still breathing," she hissed nastily. "What a _tragedy_ it would be for the great Harry Potter to die in his final stand."

Harry gaped at her, unsure how to respond to her obvious hostility. "Ginny, I know you're angry with me—"

"Oh, picked up on that, did you? Well done," she scoffed and began to walk away from him towards the door.

"Ginny!" he pleaded. "Please—"

"No, no! I couldn't possibly!" she stated flippantly as she continued to walk out of Harry's life. "I wouldn't want to go _throwing myself at you_—"

"Please let me finish a sentence!" Harry hollered, his frustration finally boiling over.

She stopped her procession and quickly spun around to face him, crossing her arms. It was evident by the blush across her face that she was still very irate. "All right. Go ahead. What could you possibly have to say?"

And for the life of him, Harry couldn't think of a single thing to say to the girl.

"Well, erm…" he stammered, "the thing is… well… what I mean to say…"

"Very well spoken," Ginny mocked.

"Damn it, Ginny! This isn't easy!" he yelled, becoming quite angry with her as well. "I want to tell you I'm sorry, but you're making it impossible!"

She snorted an astonished laugh. "You're _apologizing_? Do tell, Harry, what exactly are you sorry for?"

His steam seemed to fade away and left him with embarrassment. He never was very good at apologizing. He searched for a moment for the right words to say, but Ginny misinterpreted his silence. "Precisely," she huffed. She turned towards the door again. Harry quickly stammered out the first thing that popped into his head.

"I'm sorry for saying you were throwing yourself at me!" Ginny clearly wasn't expecting that answer, and slowly turned around, eyes wide and mouth agape, complete and utter confusion taking the place of anger..

Harry saw her shock and took it as his cue to continue. "I, erm, I know you weren't. You would never throw yourself at anyone," he said, blushing. "You're far to elegant to do that."

"Elegant…"

"But I had to get away from you," he said quickly, "because I couldn't stop thinking about you. Not with how incredible you looked and close you were…" Ginny took tentative steps towards him. "And there was no way I could go on the mission if you and I were once again… a, um, a couple," he said into his hands, "because I would never want to be away from you again."

Ginny had finally reached the edge of his bed and softly placed her hand in his. "Why, Harry?" she asked, looking intently into his eyes. "Why couldn't you tell me all this before? Why are you telling me all this now?"

Again, Harry was at a lose for words, and since he seemed to have luck with saying what's on the tip of his tongue, he tried the tactic once more. He leaned in softly towards Ginny, and said softly, "Peace of mind?"

From the sudden backwards jerk from Ginny and her face once again flushed with anger, he concluded that he has said the wrong thing. "YOU!" she screamed. "ARE UN! BELIEVEABLE!" She was walking briskly towards the door again, and Harry had to do anything he could to stop her. He rose from his bed, "Ginny—"

"'Peace of mind!'" Her shrieks grew louder. "How could I have possibly—this is—you are such a—"

"Ginny, stop!" Harry pleaded weakly as he limped towards her retreating form.

"I swear by Merlin that you will never—!"

"GINNY, I LOVE YOU!"

He stopped her just in time. She had her hand on the handle of the door and was milliseconds away from yanking it open and leaving Harry Potter forever. But his declaration completely froze her in place.

Harry continued to hobble to her. "Peace of mind, because for the so many months you were what kept me going. Just the memory of you wanted me to win this war. I knew I had to destroy that bastard so that I could love you." He walked closer to Ginny, watching the rise and fall of her back as she breathed. "Don't you see? I couldn't do that. Not until he was gone, and nothing was in the way. Peace of mind, because you needed to know that no matter how dark the situation or how bad of a mood I was in, you were there, and things didn't look so sullen." He was directly behind her now, and placed his hand on her back. "You need to know that what I felt for you was what destroyed Voldemort. I never expect you to forgive me, but I needed to make you understand that I—"

But his statement was never finished, for Ginny had suddenly turned around and slammed him against the wall next to them. She pinned his arms to his sides like a vice grip with her own arms and held him there. Harry tried to escape before Ginny said with a mad gleam in her eyes, "I have six brother I can wrestle to the ground without even breaking a sweat, Harry. You're not getting out of this grip."

Harry stopped struggling. "Okay…" he quivered.

Ginny gave him a hard look into his fearful eyes for a moment. "You hurt me," she voiced quietly. Harry kept silent, letting her bear what she needed to say to him. "You never just broke up with me. You broke me." She took a wobbly deep breath and Harry saw tears start to form in her eyes. "That much hurt should not be forgiven. And I never thought I was going to forgive you again."

Harry's eyes widened with hope, "Thought?"

"But no matter how much it hurt," she continued as though she hadn't heard him, "I couldn't stop loving you." A lone tear ran down her cheek and Harry wanted nothing more than to wipe it away. "Merlin knows I've tried. That I wanted to move on and forget all about you… but I couldn't…"

"So…" Harry started lightly, "you, um… you love me?"

"Unfortunately."

Harry dawned a wide smile on his face. He loved her and she loved him. They loved each other. This was incredible! It was the best feeling in the world!

But then, why was Ginny still crying?

"Ginny," he implored, "I'll do anything—"

"Next time you feel," she sniffed loudly over him, "that you need to go off on some ridiculous hero mission with your friends, you will _not_ leave me behind. I do not care how dangerous it may be. I don't care what we are doing or who we are fighting. I will never be left behind to worry after you again. Is that understood?" she asked firmly.

"Never again," Harry spoke immediately, needing no time to think on it. "It's understood. Completely. Never again, I promise."

"Good," she breathed, finally letting go of her grip on him. "Because I don't think I can again put up with you being an egotistical, chauvinistic—"

Her rant was cut off by Harry's lips on hers, and for a moment she allowed their lips to move together in bliss…but only for a moment.

"—self-centered, big headed—"

Another soft kiss.

"—idiotic, reckless—"

And another.

"—clueless, thick—"

And another, more firm kiss.

"…prat," she finished.

Harry wrapped his arms around her waist and set his forehead against hers. "Got all that out of your system?" he asked her, smiling.

"Oh, well, you know," she said, smiling back at him wickedly, "peace of mind."

Fin


End file.
